The sentencing scheduled later this month for a former Kansas University student convicted in the 2007 beating and kidnapping of his ex-girlfriend will be delayed again as Matthew Jaeger’s attorneys argue that he should get a new trial.

The sentencing scheduled later this month for a former Kansas University student convicted in the 2007 beating and kidnapping of his ex-girlfriend will be delayed again as Matthew Jaeger’s attorneys argue that he should get a new trial.

Instead of the Jan. 25 sentencing, Douglas County Chief District Judge Robert Fairchild has scheduled a hearing then to allow attorneys to argue whether the defense is entitled to summon a member of the jury to court for an evidentiary hearing.

Jaeger’s attorneys, Pedro Irigonegaray and Michael Saken, in October filed a motion that said because Shaun Edmondson, a juror who believed their client was innocent, was dismissed, he didn’t have the chance to sway other jurors to his way of thinking or hold onto his beliefs to create a hung jury.

Fairchild dismissed Edmondson during jury deliberations because he re-enacted the victim in the case falling onto a bed rail. The defense had argued that such a fall is how the victim got her injuries.

After Edmondson was replaced with an alternate, jurors convicted Jaeger, 24, of suburban Chicago, of kidnapping, aggravated battery and making a criminal threat. Prosecutors said he broke into the Lawrence apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Francie Biggs, on Oct. 9, 2007, and choked her unconscious, then injured her vaginal area.

Defense attorneys want Fairchild to order an evidentiary hearing so they can subpoena Edmondson to testify.

Edmondson re-enacted testimony. This was against juror rules and he knew it. He admitted it to other jurors who also knew it was against the rules and they reported him. His dismissal from the jury was legal and warranted. Having a juror dismissed is NOT grounds for a mistrial. That's what juror alternates are for. However, his attorneys have the right to file their motions and be heard. At the same time, if Fairchild vacates this trial I will be seriously surprised. The very fact that this juror did this could have created a hung jury and the fact that Fairchild dismissed him and avoided it meant that the system worked, no matter how much his defense attorneys may dislike it.

Rich Daddy needs to spend his $$ on intensive counseling for his really messed up offspring. Enabling that behavior in any way guarantees that it will happen again. Rich Loser Kid has way messed up anger management prob.

Think about it- the defense is going down in flames; what if they met with Mr Edmondson and slipped a couple benjamins in his pocket to go take a drive up Michigan Street and talk about it? Of course the easier route would have been for him to simply hang the jury but maybe there is more that will unfold...

It would create the foot in the door that we see now for the request for new trial.

I know it sounds unscrupulous, but a lack of scruples seems to be the lowest common denominator in this case, no?

Of course I'm not actually suggesting any of this, just creating some artistic interpretation for the upcoming made-for-tv movie.